Natural hazards · Fayette

Fayette, IN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fayette comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 57 claims here since 1990.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Fayette?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fayette to be higher than in 43% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding52%Cold waves11%Tornadoes10%Earthquakes8%Strong wind7%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Fayette faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

11% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 53% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 26 years in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Fayette flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Fayette, from FEMA’s records.

57paid claims since 1990

$1.3Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19902026

Biggest named events

Storm: 6 claims, $48K
Mid-spring storms: 6 claims, $78K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Fayette isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Vigo County.

Disasters that hit Fayette

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Vigo County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Fayette itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into FayetteDeclared for Vigo County only

Vigo County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Fayette

Fayette and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Clintonmostly inland floodingHigh

Otter Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Fayettemostly inland floodingModerate

St. Mary of the Woodsmostly inland floodingModerate

Tecumsehmostly inland floodingModerate

Sugar Creekmostly inland floodingLow

Elbridgemostly inland floodingLow

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Fayette covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Fayette’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Fayette. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Fayette total about $1.5M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.